Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov recently visited Egypt, Congo, Uganda and Ethiopia. His visits are part of an increasingly bitter struggle between Moscow and the West for influence in African countries.
On the continent, the West has the upper hand in certain spheres: economic influence, extensive investment, and humanitarian programs. Conversely, Russia relies on energy projects, providing mercenaries for kleptocratic dictatorial regimes, propaganda speculation about “Western colonialism,” and threats of famine. On top of this, it seems that Moscow will back down to nothing in its choice of methods and targets.
Lavrov’s failure at the G20 summit
Sergei Lavrov’s several-day tour of Africa is being lauded by Kremlin propaganda as a “geopolitical breakthrough,” proof that the Kremlin is not in international isolation. A previous attempt to show that Russia is not unwelcome everywhere occurred in early July during Indonesia’s G20 foreign ministers summit.
Much of Moscow’s diplomatic and propaganda efforts are aimed at creating a simple image: “Only a handful of Western countries is pushing Russia’s isolation, but the rest of the world continues to cooperate with us and enjoy the multipolarity established thanks to Vladimir Putin.”
However, the anti-Western banner of the “anti-imperialist struggle” did not dominate the G20 summit. The foreign ministers gathered in Bali did not want to be photographed with Lavrov, which unofficially became the reason for his early departure. Apparently, many things did not go as the Kremlin planned since Lavrov had to flee the strategically important summit for Putin and attended by representatives of the most powerful economies of the non-Western world.
China, Turkey, Argentina, Brazil, India, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia — are the countries Moscow refers to when it says it is “impossible to isolate Russia.” According to the Kremlin, there will always be rich countries with fast-growing economies that won’t give a damn about “your democracy” or “your Ukraine.” In the space of G20 countries, Lavrov should have triumphed with this geopolitical cynicism. However, he lost the battle for the G20.
The Russian foreign minister must claim a “strategic victory” on the impoverished African continent.
Mercenary “security exports”
Africa has been one of the Kremlin’s areas of expansion for several years. Russia does not have the economic potential of the USSR and cannot afford to keep African regimes friendly, as the Soviet Union did during the Cold War. Russia’s economic presence in Africa is much smaller than that of the US, Europe or China because the Russian economy is smaller. Russia sells arms and grain to African countries and is developing some energy projects there. Still, none of these advantages can compare with the enormous Western and Chinese investments in Africa’s economy and infrastructure.
In 2017-2018, Moscow began to dabble in so-called security exports. In other words, Moscow is selling the services of its paramilitary mercenary forces to Africa’s most unstable governments. Entire contingents of Russian political appointees sometimes accompanied Wagner’s mercenaries. In return, the Russians received mineral shares and political influence in occupied African capitals.
“Mercenaries” influenced the situation in various countries with varying results. In the Central African Republic, “Wagnerians” controlled the regional power bloc completely. In Mali, Russian mercenaries are helping the local military junta fight Islamic fundamentalists and have already committed war crimes. In Sudan, Russians have failed to help dictator Omar al-Bashir stay in power — he was overthrown in 2019 by army generals. In Mozambique, where Wagner’s group was asked to help fight a jihadist insurgency in a province, Russian mercenaries were defeated and left the country. In Libya, Russian mercenaries fought on the side of local rebel leader Khalifa Haftar for a long time, but even with their help, he could not take power in the capital.
Disputes over colonialism
During the African tour, Lavrov, in his speeches, tried to shift the blame for the global food crisis from Russia blockading Ukrainian seaports to Western countries.
However, he failed to conclude any landmark treaties with African countries. But the list of countries the Russian foreign minister visited is quite distinctive in economic terms. In Egypt, Ethiopia, Congo and Uganda, Russia is developing ambitious energy projects.
Russia’s State Nuclear Energy Corporation (Rosatom) recently began constructing the El Dabaa nuclear power plant in Egypt. In Ethiopia and Uganda, the corporation is also negotiating with the government on nuclear energy cooperation. In Congo, the Russian company RusGazEngineering is working on the Pointe Noire-Brazzaville-Oyo-Ouésso oil pipeline project.
But one of the main directions of the Kremlin’s expansionism on the continent remains the “regions of darkness” — unstable, borderline collapsed states, countries whose elites look to foreign bayonets for support and are indifferent to such values of Western civilization as human rights and democracy. Another way the Kremlin is consolidating its influence is by creating its own media structures in Africa. The propaganda news TV station RT, “persecuted” in European countries, is opening its first African bureau. It will be based in South Africa and headed by South African journalist Paula Slier, who previously ran RT’s Jerusalem bureau.
The West has paid little attention to Africa since the end of the first Cold War and has begun to react belatedly to Moscow’s geopolitical activity. French President Emmanuel Macron recently made a trip to the continent. During his speech in Benin, he publicly responded to the constant speculation of Kremlin propaganda about “Western imperialism and colonialism.”
“Russia is one of the last colonial empires. It has decided to invade a neighboring country to defend its interests. This is a war for territory. Such wars were thought to have already disappeared from the European continent,” the French president said.
He also noted that Moscow had launched a “new type of hybrid war,” using the threat of famine as a blackmail tool against the world community.
Raman Papkou/vot-tak.tv/belsat.eu
